Weekly work hours in Germany reach peak since country's 1990 unification
The Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) in Wiesbaden has released a report on Tuesday, highlighting a record high in employment levels and a stable working hours landscape in Germany. The report includes information about both men's employment and working hours.
According to the report, the current average weekly working hours for a full-time employee in Germany is approximately 40.2 hours per week overall. Among all employees aged 15 to 64, 29% work part-time, averaging about 21.8 hours per week.
Historically, the standard full-time workweek in Germany has been close to 40 hours, influenced by collective bargaining and labor laws. The figure of 38.8 hours per week is cited as a mean basic weekly working time for full-time employees in recent 2025 data, specifically for full-time workers in most sectors according to earnings surveys.
Factors contributing to these trends include the prevalence of part-time work, strong labor protections and collective agreements, socio-cultural factors, and the economic and legislative environment. The rise in part-time employment, particularly among women, lowers the average for the female workforce.
While the report does not provide specific breakdowns of average weekly working hours by gender, it is well-established in German labor statistics that men on average work more hours than women, primarily due to higher rates of full-time employment and fewer part-time arrangements among men.
One significant finding from the report is the increasing part-time employment, which has been more than offset by a significant increase in the proportion of employed women. As a result, the average working hours per capita of the German population aged between 20 and 64 has reached a record high, currently standing at nearly 29 hours per week.
In particular, the proportion of employed women has increased by almost a third over the past three decades. Women now work over 24 hours per week on average, while men, and especially older ones, are now more likely to be employed. However, men still work an average of 2.6 hours more per week compared to three decades ago, with women's average paid weekly working hours still nine hours lower than men's.
BiB research director Sebastian Klüsener explained the balance between the increase in employment among men and the decrease in hours worked by each man, resulting in men's working hours per capita remaining roughly the same as 30 years ago. Harun Sulak, a researcher at the BiB, explained the increase in average working hours mainly due to the rising employment rate of women.
Katharina Spieß, the director of BiB, has called for family policy reforms such as the expansion of childcare to address these working hour disparities between genders. The report does not mention any significant changes in men's employment rate.
These working hour patterns contrast with other countries in Europe, where averages may range between 32 to 40 hours, affected by cultural norms and policy. Germany remains close to a standard 40-hour week but has a significant share of part-time workers shaping aggregate averages. If exact historical gender-specific weekly hour trends for Germany are needed, additional detailed labor force surveys from German statistical offices would be required beyond these high-level summaries.
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